Guidance on the development, assessment

and maintenance of long-life flexible

pavements
Prepared for Highways Agency, Quarry Products Association,
and Refined Bitumen Association

D Merrill

TRL Report TRL639

First Published 2005
ISSN 0968-4107
ISBN 1-84608-638-8
Copyright TRL Limited 2005.

This report has been produced by TRL Limited, under/as part

of a contract placed by the Highways Agency, Quarry Products
Association and Refined Bitumen Association. Any views
expressed in it are not necessarily those of the Highways
Agency, Quarry Products Association and Refined Bitumen
Association.

TRL is committed to optimising energy efficiency, reducing

waste and promoting recycling and re-use. In support of these
environmental goals, this report has been printed on recycled
paper, comprising 100% post-consumer waste, manufactured
using a TCF (totally chlorine free) process.

ii
CONTENTS
Page

Executive Summary 1

1 Introduction 3

2 Background 3
2.1 Long-life fully-flexible pavement concept 3
2.2 The benefits of long-life pavements 4
2.3 The design of new long-life pavements 4
2.4 Evolved long-life pavements 5
2.5 Assessment and upgrading within an assessment framework 6
2.6 Long-life pavements and robust pavements 6

3 Existing methods of structural assessment and upgrading 7

3.1 Structural assessment 7
3.2 Upgrading 8

4 Enhancements to the existing assessment and upgrading

methods 9
4.1 General approach 9
4.2 Upgrading 11
4.2.1 Upgrading method for pavements up to 400 mm
TTBM using the existing assessment criteria 12

5 Condition assessment of long-life and robust pavements 13

5.1 Condition assessment advice from the Design Manual
for Roads and Bridges 13
5.2 Additional condition assessment advice for cracking
and rutting 14
5.2.1 Depth of cracking 14
5.2.2 Rutting 14

6 Maintenance techniques for long-life or robust pavements 15

6.1 Existing treatments covered in the design manual for
roads and bridges 15
6.2 Proposed alternative treatments 16
6.3 Treatment selection for long-life and robust pavements 18

7 Potential benefits of long-life and robust pavements 18

8 Summary 19

9 Acknowledgements 19

10 References 19

iii
 Page

Appendix A: Supporting case studies 21

Appendix B: A statistical method for the objective assessment

of trends 25

Abstract 26

Related publications 26

iv
Executive Summary

This guidance originates from research that was jointly ! The concept of robust pavements which enables many
sponsored by the Highways Agency, the Quarry Products of the benefits of the long-life pavement to be obtained
Association and the Refined Bitumen Association. The aim for a wider range of pavements.
of the research was to enhance the long-life pavement ! Enhanced assessment advice that provides more
assessment and upgrading methodologies so that they may confidence in the assessment of robust and long-life
be applied more widely than is currently permitted; it also pavements.
aimed to present clearly the current advice on the
! For robust pavements, enhanced upgrading methods that
maintenance options for long-life flexible pavements, and
can be used to reduce the risk of future structural
to introduce some additional techniques that could be
successfully applied. deterioration.
The guidance is a single resource dedicated to providing ! More economic maintenance treatments for long-life
advice on the construction, assessment and maintenance of pavements.
pavements that are not expected to experience structural The scope of this guidance covers only fully-flexible
deterioration, commonly referred to as long-life pavements. pavements that are not expected to deteriorate
In addition to the findings of the research, the guidance uses structurally. The guidance does not cover totally new
extracts from the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges pavement constructions, which have been covered in
(DMRB) and also the information collected in the long-life
TRL Report TRL250; however, aspects of the design of
flexible pavement design document TRL Report TRL250.
new long-life pavements are included for completeness.
The concept of robust pavements has been introduced.
The guidance includes:
Robust pavements are expected to deteriorate in a similar
fashion to long-life pavements; however, provided that ! The assessment of existing pavements to gauge the
these pavements demonstrate similar characteristics to likelihood of structural deterioration occurring in the
long-life pavements, these pavements can be thinner than future.
long-life pavements. The main difference between long- ! The creation of long-life, or robust pavements that are
life pavements and robust pavements is the level of risk unlikely to experience structural deterioration, by the
associated with structural deterioration; robust pavements appropriate maintenance of existing flexible pavements.
have a higher risk of structural deterioration than long- ! Maintenance techniques that are appropriate to long-life
life pavements although this additional risk can be or robust pavements.
mitigated by the appropriate adjustment of maintenance
assessment strategies.
Enhanced advice for the assessment and upgrading of
robust and long-life pavements has been proposed. This
advice has been designed to complement, but not replace,
the existing Highways Agency practices and it extends the
applicability of the concept beyond the trunk road network.
A number of maintenance treatments that are suitable
for robust and long-life pavements are listed. In addition to
these treatments that are contained in the existing versions
of the DMRB, two novel treatments are presented that
offer the opportunity to maintain long-life pavement in a
more efficient and sustainable manner: trench inlay and
partial depth inlay.
The benefits of the long-life pavement concept and the
likely benefits arising from this guidance have been
considered. In summary, the guidance:
! Enables more accurate future budgeting of maintenance
funds.
! Prevents unnecessary strengthening.
! Enables some robust pavements with a medium risk of
structural deterioration to be developed to a long-life
pavement with a lower risk of structural deterioration.
! Assists maintenance engineers better define the evidence
for maintenance decision processes.
As well as describing the economic and environmental
benefits of the long-life pavement concept, this guidance
introduces:

1
2
1 Introduction
This guidance originates from research that was jointly
sponsored by the Highways Agency, the Quarry Products
Association and the Refined Bitumen Association. The aim
of the research was to enhance the long-life pavement
assessment and upgrading methodologies so that they may
be applied more widely than is currently permitted. It also
aimed to present clearly the current advice on the
maintenance options for long-life flexible pavements, and
to introduce some additional techniques that could be
successfully applied.
The guidance is a single resource dedicated to providing
advice on the creation, assessment and maintenance of
pavements that are not expected to experience structural
deterioration, commonly referred to as long-life pavements.
The guidance uses extracts from the Design Manual for
Roads and Bridges (DMRB) and also the information
collected in the long-life flexible pavement design document
TRL Report TRL250; the extracts from the DMRB are
highlighted throughout this guidance in italics.
In order to apply the long-life pavement concept to a
wider range of pavements, the concept of robust
pavements has been introduced in this report. Robust
pavements are expected to deteriorate in a similar
fashion to long-life pavements; however, provided that
these pavements demonstrate similar characteristics to
long-life pavements, these pavements can be thinner
than long-life pavements. The main difference between
long-life pavements and robust pavements is the level of
risk associated with structural deterioration; robust
pavements have a higher risk of structural deterioration
than long-life pavements although this additional risk
can be mitigated by the appropriate adjustment of
maintenance assessment strategies.
Enhanced advice for the assessment and upgrading of
robust and long-life pavements has been proposed. This
advice has been designed to complement, but not replace,
the existing Highways Agency practices and it extends the
applicability of the concept beyond the trunk road network.
A number of maintenance treatments that are suitable
for robust and long-life pavements are listed. In addition to
these treatments, that are contained in the existing versions
of the DMRB, two novel treatments are presented that
offer the opportunity to maintain long-life pavement in a
more efficient and sustainable manner: trench inlay and
partial depth inlay.
The scope of this guidance covers only fully-flexible
pavements that are not expected to structurally deteriorate.
The guidance does not cover completely new
constructions; however, aspects of the design of new long-
life pavements are included for completeness. As such, the
guidance includes the assessment of existing pavements to
gauge the likelihood of structural deterioration occurring
in the future; the creation of long-life or robust pavements
that are unlikely to experience deterioration structurallly
by the appropriate maintenance of existing flexible
pavements; and maintenance techniques that are
appropriate to long-life or robust pavements.
2 Background
Long-life pavements are a particular type of pavement.
Although it is attractive to define such pavements in terms
of physical attributes such as thickness, material type or
stiffness; the long-life pavement concept is more adequately
described by the functional aspects of the system.
The European Long-Life Pavement Group (ELLPAG)
has developed a generic definition for long-life pavements
that is independent of the type of construction or national
technical standards.
‘A Long-life Pavement is a type of pavement that can be
identified as one lacking any deterioration in either the
foundation or the structural pavement layers. Any
distresses that might occur are confined to the surfacing
layers only.’
In this definition (FEHRL, 2004), deterioration is
whatever type or degree of deterioration that a network
manager considers significant and that may result in
structural maintenance being required. However, in this
document only flexible pavements are considered and the
behaviour is described in more detail.
2.1 Long-life fully-flexible pavement concept
For a detailed description of the concept of a long-life
flexible pavement, precise and consistent terminology for
the layers of the pavement system is essential. Figure 2.1
shows the terminology used to describe the layers of a
flexible pavement.
Earlier research has identified general behavioural
characteristics for heavily trafficked flexible pavements,
these were:
! Stiffening or curing of base materials caused by
hardening of the bitumen leading to an increase in
pavement strength with time.
! Fatigue cracking that initiates at the bottom of the base
layer has rarely, if ever, been encountered.
! Cracking of the asphalt pavement can occur in the
surfacing and is due, in part, to embrittlement of the
binder in the surface course. If cracking in the surfacing
is allowed to progress unchecked, the propagation of
cracking through the main pavement layers may occur.
! Pavement deformation is often due to internal
deformation of the surfacing rather than deformation
throughout the entire structure (including the subgrade).
! Pavements are most vulnerable in the first few years of
their life, because curing of the asphalt is yet to occur.
Therefore potential long-life pavements may suffer
irreversible structural damage in their early life.
These characteristics were collated in a statement
provided in TRL Report TRL250: ‘A well constructed,
flexible pavement that is built above a defined threshold
strength will have a very long structural service life
provided that distress, in the form of cracks and ruts
appearing at the surface, is detected and remedied before it
begins to affect the structural integrity of the road’. This
conclusion was used as the basis for the design of long-life
flexible pavements.
3

Surface Course
Surfacing
Binder Course
Structural
layer Base
Sub-base
Foundation
layers
Subgrade
Figure 2.1 The layers of a long-life flexible pavement
The concept of long-life pavements was naturally extended
to the assessment and maintenance of existing flexible
pavements. This change to the approach to the assessment
and maintenance of these pavements was required in order to
take full advantage of these characteristics. These changes
have been incorporated into the current version of the Design
Manual for Roads and Bridges.
2.2 The benefits of long-life pavements
The adoption of the concept of long-life flexible
pavements produces obvious economic and social benefits.
In terms of the construction of a new road, the concept
of threshold strength allows for adjustments to be made so
that design thicknesses for increasing levels of traffic are
capped. These capped thicknesses limit the amount of
material that is required to construct a road and therefore
can result in more efficient road construction. In addition,
the consumption of non-renewable resources can be
reduced in terms of road construction materials as well as
the energy required for production and transportation.
In terms of maintenance of an existing road, the long-
life concept allows road managers to take advantage of
pavement structures that are not expected to deteriorate
structurally. Excavation and replacement of structural
layers of the pavement are unlikely to be required.
Maintenance is then restricted to the surfacing layers that
can be replaced quickly. The costs of maintenance in terms
of direct costs and costs arising from delays to users are
reduced. There are similar environmental benefits to that
for new construction.
The speed of maintenance is a particular benefit of long-
life pavements. The pavement can be maintained by
performing maintenance operations during night working
with little or no impact on the users. Such a facility allows
the impact of maintenance to be minimised and, given that
works can be completed within a matter of hours, the
maintenance works can be more closely managed.
2.3 The design of new long-life pavements
The pavement structure is a system of layers whose
individual performance is reliant upon the successful
performance of the other layers. In order to produce a
4
long-life pavement, it is essential that each of the
pavement layers is fulfilling its role to a high standard
thereby ensuring the integrity of the structure for long-life.
TRL Report TRL250 comprehensively covered the
design of long-life flexible roads which included design
and construction considerations for each layer in the
pavement from the foundation to the surfacing. This report
should be carefully considered prior to designing a flexible
long-life pavement, however a summary of the main
elements of the report is provided in this guidance.
Foundation layers
The primary role of the foundation is to provide a platform
on which to construct the structural layers and the
surfacing. In order to carry out this role, it shall be
designed so that it protects the subgrade layer during
construction in adverse weather conditions. The
foundation should also be constructed so that it can carry
the construction traffic without significant damage.
In order to design the thickness of the foundation, the
subgrade is assessed in terms of either equilibrium CBR
(Californian Bearing Ratio) or a CBR measured at the time
of construction. The thickness of foundation is then chosen
according to established design charts provided in HD25
(Highways Agency, 2005) and reproduced in Figure 2.2.
The performance of a foundation layer is controlled by
the design of the layer and the quality of its construction.
The foundation of a long-life pavement shall be
constructed to a high quality to ensure that it provides
adequate stiffness in order to ensure complete compaction
of the overlying layers. The foundation should be made
durable so that it maintains, or develops, support to the
pavement layers throughout the life of the pavement.
Durability and support should be checked, albeit by proxy,
by some form of end-performance specification system
during construction.
Structural layers
The designs for the structural layers of a long-life flexible
pavement have been formed using strong evidence
regarding the behaviour of pavements comprising thick
asphalt layers. This evidence demonstrates that:
! The deterioration of thick, well-constructed, flexible
pavements is hardly ever structural and generally occurs
at the pavement surface.
! The properties of asphalt change with time. For the
structural layers, these changes have been termed
‘curing’ which is where the asphalt layers are seen to
increase in stiffness, and hence strength, with age.
Curing was proposed as a primary reason for the lack of
structural damage in thick, well-constructed pavements.
A threshold thickness, determine using analytical
methods, for avoiding structural deterioration in new
pavement constructions was determined as 270 mm for a
flexible pavement containing DBM100 material; this was
deduced from the observed performance of mature
pavements and some conservatism for ensuring that
deterioration would not occur in early life. Since surface
cracking in thick pavements was also observed to penetrate
 400
300 SUB-BASE
SUB-BASE
THICKNESS 200
(mm)
100

CBR values below Key

1.5% require
special treatment Capping/Sub-base design

600 Sub-base only design,

capping not required
500
400
CAPPING CAPPING
THICKNESS 300
(mm)
200
100

1 2 3 4 5 8 10 15 20 30

Subgrade CBR (%)

Figure 2.2 Foundation design charts in TRL Report TRL250

up to 100 mm, this thickness was added to the threshold
together with a further 20 mm for the anticipated increase
in maximum legal axle load from 10.5 to 11.5 tonnes. This
gave a threshold thickness for the asphalt layers in a long-
life flexible pavement as 390 mm, which was equivalent to
designs for a total traffic loading of 80 msa.
It was therefore proposed that designs for traffic in
excess of 80 msa should be capped at the threshold
thickness. Additional thickness above the threshold
thickness would serve no structural purpose. Equivalent
design thresholds have been determined for other asphalt
materials and these have been tabulated in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1 Design thicknesses for long-life roads using
standard asphalt base materials
Threshold thickness
Base material for long-life design
DBM125 420
DBM100 390
DBM50 350
HDM 320
HMB35 310
Surfacing
The surfacing of a long-life, flexible pavement has to serve
many functions. In TRL Report TRL250, the attributes of
an ideal surfacing are listed as:
! offering good skid resistance;
! allowing for rapid drainage of surface water;
! minimising traffic noise;
! resisting cracking and rutting;
! withstanding traffic turning and braking forces;
! protecting the underlying road structure;
! requiring minimal maintenance;
! being capable of being re-cycled or overlaid;
! being durable;
! giving value for money.
Nunn et al. (1997) acknowledged that while many
surfacing treatments have some of the attributes listed
above, no treatments have them all. The advice offered in
TRL Report TRL250 concerns the appropriate selection of
materials for long-life pavements from traditional hot
rolled asphalts to thin surfacings. Indeed, the critical
performance parameter may be the maintenance of surface
characteristics such as texture and frictional properties for
long-life pavements.
2.4 Evolved long-life pavements
The long-life pavement concept is based around the idea of
a threshold strength above which structural deterioration is
unlikely to occur. It is acknowledged that the properties of
asphalt pavements change with time due to temperature
effects but also due to long-term changes in the chemical
composition of the bitumen known as ‘ageing’.
mm
The ageing of the asphalt in the structural layers of the
mm flexible pavement is often termed ‘curing’. As the material
mm ages the effective stiffness of the material increases and
mm improves the load spreading ability of the structure. In
mm
contrast, curing also reduces the resistance of the material
to cracking for a given level of strain. TRL Report TRL250
assesses the risk of cracking due to the action of curing. It
was deduced that the overall risk of cracking is likely to be
reduced since the strains in the structure will also reduce as
a result of increased load spreading ability. Pavements that
contain materials which cure significantly develop strength
with age, at some time exceeding the threshold strength
required so that structural deterioration is no longer
anticipated, resulting in a long-life pavement.
Prior to the creation of the concept, pavements were
constructed and maintained according to conventional
methodologies that guarded against anticipated
deterioration in the structure of the pavement.
Conventional methodologies resulted in pre-emptive
strengthening maintenance that appear in some cases to
have increased the pavement strength beyond the threshold
strength, thereby forming a long-life pavement.

5
2.5 Assessment and upgrading within an assessment
framework
Figure 2.3 illustrates a general framework for pavement
maintenance assessment in the form that is currently used
by the Highways Agency; this framework applies to all
pavement types, including long-life pavements. The
framework includes two levels of assessment: a network
level and a scheme level. The two levels are defined so
that the requirements for the network as a whole or an
individual pavement can be determined.
Network level assessment
No Is scheme level
assessment
required?
Yes
Scheme level assessment
No Is maintenance
required?
Yes
Perform maintenance
Figure 2.3 The general framework for pavement
maintenance assessment
Network level assessments are performed to quantify the
maintenance needs of the network as a whole. Network
level assessment includes the routine network level
condition surveys that are performed on an annual basis.
These routine surveys provide a measure of condition that is
used to calculate performance indicators, identify potential
maintenance schemes and set the global maintenance
budget. As part of the network level assessment, schemes
can be selected for scheme level assessment.
Scheme level assessments are performed to define the
actual maintenance requirements of a particular scheme.
The routine condition data, collected at network level, can
be included in a scheme level assessment but should be
supplemented with specific surveys to assist in defining
more closely the actual condition of the pavements and the
6
appropriate maintenance requirements. The scheme level
assessment also includes an economic appraisal. For a
particular scheme there may be a range of maintenance
options available; the option offering the most economic
long-term value would normally be favoured.
One of the maintenance options under consideration at
scheme level may indeed be to upgrade the pavement to
‘long-life’. Upgrading of the pavement will only be
performed as part of this maintenance assessment
framework, where the need for maintenance has been
identified and the upgrading operation justified as the most
economic maintenance option.
The assessment techniques discussed in this report are
more likely to be performed at scheme level than at a network
level; this is because the data required for the assessment are
unlikely to be provided by current routine survey data.
The main purpose of assessing the condition of
pavements is to estimate their future maintenance
requirements. Potential robust and long-life pavements are
a concept rather than being absolutely definable in terms
of some geometric or structural property; this concept
covers the anticipated modes of deterioration and
associated maintenance requirements. It is therefore
impossible to rigorously determine whether a pavement is
currently long-life or robust from its measured condition.
Thus, the scheme level structural assessment procedures in
this guidance are performed to class the pavement based
on whether the likely future maintenance needs are
consistent with those associated with the long-life
pavement or robust pavement concept. However:
The structural pavement assessment procedures cannot
determine what is, or is not, a long-life or robust pavement;
but they can indicate the likely future maintenance needs
and monitoring strategy.
Upgrading a pavement to form a long-life or robust
pavement implies that by consciously carrying out some
appropriate maintenance operations, the structural properties
of the pavement are developed in such a fashion that the
structural layers of the road are not expected to deteriorate.
In the case of robust pavements, this expectation may be
dependent on the expected traffic loading.
2.6 Long-life pavements and robust pavements
A pavement that does not structurally deteriorate will
require only its surface layers to be maintained. In the UK,
long-life pavements have been considered as the only type
of pavement to fulfil this role. According to the assessment
methods described in HD29 (Highways Agency, 2005),
potentially long-life pavements can be identified in the UK
as having low deflections and an asphalt layer thickness in
excess of 300 mm; the thickness threshold for new
constructions can be higher than for the assessment of
existing pavements to take into account natural deviations in
material properties and thickness that occur during
construction as well as protecting against damage in early
life. The identification criteria have been set in a relatively
conservative approach in order to provide confidence in the
detection of potentially long-life pavements. Therefore it is
likely that some pavements which are constructed thinner
and have higher deflections than long-life pavements will 3.1 Structural assessment
also require that only the surface layers are maintained. The deflectograph (Figure 3.1) is a long established tool
The information on pavement performance contained in for measuring the structural capacity of a pavement. This
TRL Report TRL250 suggests that there may be a device has been used by a wide range of authorities both in
significant number of flexible pavements with asphalt the UK and abroad. A deflectograph survey is carried out
layers that are greater than 200 mm but less than 300 mm at slow speed and a measurement of the peak deflection
thick, which do not require structural maintenance. At this under both the nearside and offside wheel is taken. A
stage, it is unwise to suggest that these pavements are also deflection measurement is taken approximately every 4 m.
long-life pavements since it is possible that the structure is The load on the pavement is applied by two dual wheel
just strong enough to carry the daily traffic without any assemblies, each applying a wheel load of 3.75 tonnes. It is
detriment to the structure; an increase in daily traffic could advised that only data from deflectograph surveys less than
bring about structural deterioration in the future.
four years old can be considered as an adequate
Surface initiated deterioration such as surface cracking
representation of the current condition of the pavement.
will, in theory, have less effect on a thick flexible pavement
than a thinner pavement. Furthermore, the current threshold
thickness for long-life pavements of 300 mm includes a
buffer zone for surface initiated deterioration. The buffer
zone ensures that there is a minimal risk that surface
initiated deterioration develops into structural deterioration.
Reducing the overall thickness of the pavement reduces this
buffer zone and consequently increases the theoretical risk
of deterioration requiring major maintenance.
Nonetheless there is a case for the identification of
pavements that are not expected to deteriorate structurally
but may require regular monitoring and maintenance to
reduce the additional risks that structural deterioration
occurs in the future. These pavements have been defined
as ‘robust’ pavements.
A robust flexible pavement will:
! have an asphalt thickness of at least 200 mm; Figure 3.1 A defelectograph
! not experience structural deterioration in the form of
fatigue cracking or structural deformation provided that
the traffic levels do not exceed a certain level; Nunn and Ferne (1997) presented criteria for the
! be supported by a good quality foundation; assessment of long-life pavements using the deflectograph.
! require regular structural assessment; The method identifies potentially long-life pavements as
! be maintained in a similar fashion to long-life pavements. those with a significant thickness of asphalt and with low
deflections; the criteria reside as part of the current advice
Robust pavements are unlikely to offer the same value in HD29 (Highways Agency, 2005) and have been
for money as long-life pavements in heavily trafficked reproduced in Figure 3.2.
locations; this is due to the increased risk of structural The criteria are applied using a value of standard
deterioration. However, for locations where the traffic deflection and the Total Thickness of Bituminous Material
levels are moderate, robust pavements could provide (TTBM) in the following manner:
significant economic benefits through the adoption of
long-life maintenance principles with the appropriate
Determination of standard deflection
monitoring and timely maintenance to mitigate the risk of
structural deterioration. The standard deflection is typically presented as the 85th
Robust pavements may have a greater risk of deteriorating percentile of the deflectograph deflections over a 100 m
structurally than long-life pavements. If this risk is considered length corrected to a standard temperature of 20°C.
to be unacceptable it may be more desirable to upgrade the
pavement by structural strengthening in order to become Determination of TTBM
potentially long-life pavements. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges gives specific
advice for the determination of TTBM. A diagrammatical
representation of this advice is provided in Figure 3.3.
3 Existing methods of structural
assessment and upgrading
Pavements classified as Determinate Life Pavements
This section details the methods for the structural These pavements are likely to have a determinate life and
assessment of pavements that are potentially long-life are therefore unlikely to be covered in this guidance.
pavements and the upgrading of existing pavements to Advice on the likely deterioration modes and maintenance
form potentially long-life pavements. These methods are requirements of these pavements is available in the Design
currently included in HD29 (Highways Agency, 2005). Manual for Roads and Bridges.

7
 0.35

0.30

Standard deflection (mm)

0.25 Determinate Life
Pavement

0.20

Upgradeable to LLP
0.15

0.10
Long-life
Pavement
0.05

0.00
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Total thickness of bituminous material (mm)

Figure 3.2 Pavement categories in HD29 (Highway Agency, 2005)

Multiple Surface Dressings < 25 mm Surface course

Top 100 mm bituminous
material included
regardless of condition

TTBM
Asphalt binder
course and
base

Severely deteriorated
CBM Layer bituminous layer or
granular layer greater
than 25 mm thick

Asphalt layer
beneath CBM Ignore in TTBM calculation
layer
Include in TTBM calculation

Figure 3.3 Calculation of TTBM

Pavements classified as Long-Life Pavements more than 100 mm of overlay. The actual overlay
The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges advises that thickness is that required to bring the TTBM up to 300 mm,
‘pavements in this category can be expected to last for an providing this is at least 40 mm. Note that the Design
indefinite period provided that deterioration at the surface Manual for Roads and Bridges advises that the actual
is not allowed to compromise the pavement structure’. overlay requirements should not be based upon the results
It follows that these pavements are not expected to of deflection analyses alone and should be confirmed using
receive any structural improvement by the application of evidence of the existing material condition.
an overlay if there is no structural deterioration. The A ULLP must, by definition, also be considered as a
maintenance requirements of pavements in this category robust pavement provided that the associated increased risk
should then be limited to treatment of the surfacing only. of structural deterioration was accepted. An LLP should not
contain layers that have structural deterioration; therefore a
ULLP must also be free from structural deterioration.
Pavements classified as Upgradeable to Long-Life Pavements
Not all pavements in this category will be suitable for
classification as ‘Upgradeable to Long-Life Pavement’ 3.2 Upgrading
(ULLP) status; these assignments should only be adopted The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges contains advice
if there is other evidence to suggest that the pavement is for the upgrading of an existing pavement to one having
not experiencing structural deterioration. long-life properties. Using the techniques described in
For pavements that are suitable for upgrading to long- Section 3.1, a pavement can be classified as ULLP. A ULLP
life pavements, the road owner should expect that long-life has an asphalt layer between 200 mm and 300 mm thick and
pavement status could be achieved by the application of no has low deflections that would be expected to fall within the

8
long-life pavement category according to the criteria shown
in Figure 3.2 when overlaid to a TTBM of 300 mm. This
particular definition should be remembered when applying
the deflectograph-based assessment techniques.
By definition, any existing pavement structure can be
upgraded to form a long-life structure and the methods for
upgrading the structure could range from a moderate
overlay to a full reconstruction of the entire pavement.
However, economics will dictate when the upgrading of a
structure to be a long-life flexible pavement is feasible.
Long-life pavements are most advantageous in heavy
traffic situations and therefore it is in these situations
where the economics are likely to advocate long-life
pavements; therefore, it would be expected that in most
cases an existing structure on a medium to heavily
trafficked route will be of reasonable thickness and
therefore require a limited overlay if upgrading to long-life
is desirable. The definition of ULLP provided in the
DMRB should therefore cover most upgrading situations.
HAPMS Confirm is the Highways Agency’s Pavement
Management System. HAPMS Confirm has the facility for
calculating the overlay required for pavements classified as
ULLP so that they may be considered to be ‘long-life’.
This calculation is simply the difference between the
TTBM and 300 mm, subject to the minimum overlay
thicknesses defined in the software.
4 Enhancements to the existing
assessment and upgrading methods
The following section details a number of proposed
enhancements for the structural assessment of pavements
that are potentially long-life pavements and the upgrading of
existing pavements to potentially ‘long-life’. These methods
may be used in addition to the existing methods to assess
whether a pavement is likely to be either a robust or a long-
life pavement. Conflicts should be resolved at a scheme
level on the basis of the balance of evidence supporting the
long-life characteristics. Many of the methods contained in
this section are indeed carried out as part of a scheme level
assessment. However, the methods have been highlighted in
this document for their direct value in determining the
likelihood that the future structural maintenance needs for
robust or long-life pavements.
Part of the research work carried out in this project
looked at the possibility of producing an assessment and
upgrading method based upon the structural properties of
individual pavement layers obtained from a combination
of in-situ and laboratory testing. At the time of writing, it
was considered that the current state of knowledge
regarding the elements required was not sufficiently robust
to achieve a satisfactory method. As a consequence, a
central deflection-based approach has been used for the
proposed methods rather than attempting to obtain the
properties of individual layers.
4.1 General approach
In addition to the deflection and thickness approach for the
assessment of pavement detailed in Section 3, the
enhanced advice considers the condition of the pavement
in conjunction with the design assumptions for a long-life
pavement given in TRL Report TRL250. The
characteristics of a long-life pavement are such that:
1 It demonstrates resistance to structural damage by the
level of traffic it carries.
2 All the asphalt layers are sound.
3 It has a strong foundation.
4 The asphalt layers are suitably thick.
The existing methodology covers, in part, a number of
these criteria. Thickness is covered by the use of TTBM in
the existing methodology. Low deflections are a
consequence of strong foundations and sound asphalt
materials. However, greater confidence can be gained from
the existing assessment techniques provided these criteria
are also met individually. An individual criterion can also
assist in providing an additional reason for demonstrating
that the pavement is not expected to deteriorate
structurally, even though the existing classification method
has defined them as either long-life or robust pavements.
The enhanced assessment method uses a combination of
tests and observations to show how strongly a pavement
exhibits the four characteristics of a long-life pavement.
The methods of showing that the pavement has not been
damaged by traffic (1) and that it has a strong foundation
(3) can utilise falling weight deflectometer (FWD)
measurements. The FWD is a widely used tool as part of
the assessment of pavement condition at scheme level. The
Highways Agency currently advocates the use of
deflectograph testing as the primary measure of pavement
strength (Highways Agency, 2005), however the FWD can
be used to provide additional detailed information on the
condition of the pavement layers.
The Highways Agency employs a system of annual
calibrations for FWD devices that are used on its network.
A FWD device (Figure 4.1) should have satisfied the
annual calibration trial criteria before it can be used for
this method, in addition to the check for consistency
between these devices that is described in HD29
Figure 4.1 The falling weight deflectometer (FWD)
9
(Highways Agency, 2005). Care must be taken with the
interpretation of deflection measurements; a thorough
knowledge of the pavement construction and its
foundation is essential, as is the use of appropriate
temperature correction techniques.
For synergy with any network level structural
assessment, the enhanced techniques should ideally be
made on 100 m sections of the pavement under evaluation.
Demonstration of each of the four characteristics of
long-life and robust pavements are used to build
confidence for the likely future maintenance needs and
may be used to support the original classification described
in Section 3.2. Pavements that can easily demonstrate
every one of these characteristics provide the most
confidence. However, where few of these characteristics
can be clearly demonstrated there is a reduced likelihood
that the pavement is potentially long-life. Similarly, a
robust pavement could also be classified as a determinate
life pavement using the initial assessment criteria, but its
justification as a robust pavement can be demonstrated if
the characteristics can be demonstrated.
Resistance to structural damage by traffic
A pavement that is resistant to damage by the traffic it
carries will have desirable structural properties. The
response of a pavement to traffic loading is controlled by
the combination of its structural and material properties.
TRL Report TRL250 demonstrated that provided that the
responses of a pavement under traffic loading are restricted
to below a certain threshold, the risk of structural
deterioration may be negligible. Although the material
properties and traffic may change with time, the three
stated elements (structure, materials and traffic) can
conspire to maintain the response below the threshold. A
measurable pavement response is deflection at the surface
of the pavement; confidence in the assessment with
deflection increases with the frequency of deflection
measurements. Increasing the frequency of measurement
improves the analysis, however a deflection measurement
every 10 m in the most heavily trafficked lane should be
sufficient. A resistance to damage by traffic may be
demonstrated by a property of the pavement that can be
correlated with a resistance to damage by traffic; this can
be achieved in a variety of ways:
! For a given thickness of pavement, a threshold
deflection can be used to indicate a strong pavement.
This deflection should ensure that the responses within
the structure are low so that robustness is being achieved
regardless of the traffic level. The current approach
described in Section 3.1 of this document would be
suitable.
! The use of back-analysis techniques to determine the
structural properties of pavement layers is described in
HD29 (Highways Agency, 2005). A pavement that is
resistant to structural damage by traffic will have
retained its desirable structural properties and therefore
will be exhibiting good stiffness in each of the pavement
layers. It is expected that long-life or robust pavements
will have pavement layers judged to be of good integrity
according to the criteria.
10
! The evolution with time and traffic of the deflection
response of a pavement under a known load can be
monitored. If this deflection level is not increasing
significantly over a number of years then this is an
indication that there is likely to be a resistance to damage
in the pavement structure. However, the comparison of
surveys taken over a period of time requires that each
survey is either carried out under identical conditions, e.g.
for loading, temperature and moisture, or that the
measurements are robustly and accurately corrected back
to standard conditions. This is relatively straightforward
for load correction and procedures for temperature
correction are available although care is needed if the
necessary precision is to be achieved. At present there is
no standard approach for correcting for variations in the
moisture content of the foundation; however, these should
not vary significantly provided the pavement drainage
works correctly.
The determination of trends in data containing random
errors is often based on a subjective assessment. An
objective statistical approach is available using the
Mann-Kendall technique (Kendall, 1938), illustrated in
Appendix B. With all trend analyses, care should be
taken to ensure that sufficient information has been
collected to make reliable judgements on the trend.
In addition to the recent structural properties of the
pavement, the assessment and maintenance history of a
mature pavement can be consulted if the pavement has
significantly exceeded its original design life. Such mature
pavements that have been assessed for maintenance and have
only been treated using non-structural treatments where
required, have already demonstrated a behaviour similar to
that expected for a long-life or robust pavement. Provided that
operating conditions of these pavements in the future are not
significantly different to the past and the pavements have
exceeded their original design life, these pavements are
demonstrating a resistance to damage by traffic.
Soundness in the asphalt layer
A well-constructed asphalt layer should be compacted to a
high degree in all layers. It should exhibit good bond
between the layers and the aggregate skeleton should
provide the appropriate degree of interlock. A sound asphalt
layer should not show any signs of structural deterioration.
Soundness implies that the condition of the asphalt layer
reflects that of a recently placed layer that has been properly
constructed. In most cases this property will be checked using
a visual assessment and it is likely to rely upon a subjective
assessment. Visual assessment means that the asphalt layers
should be exposed, which can be achieved using a trial pit or
by cutting cores. Cutting cores is preferable since this requires
less intrusion into the structure of the layer and can be
performed more swiftly than excavating a trial pit. Sufficient
cores should be extracted from each assessment length in
order to provide sufficient confidence in the assessment. The
frequency of coring should reflect the variability of the
construction and the required confidence in the assessment.
An increased frequency of extraction will add to the overall
cost of the assessment.
 Any core sample extracted from the pavement should be
free from significantly voided layers. It should not be
debonded; however, it should be noted that asphalt layers
could be separated during the core cutting operations. The
interfaces between layers should be inspected to see if they
are freshly exposed or otherwise (the colour of the bitumen
on the interface between the layers should be similar to the
walls of the core if freshly exposed otherwise it may be
lighter) and the aggregate should be evenly distributed
within the layer (no segregation). Deterioration of the
bituminous material such as cracking or disintegration of
the material itself should not be evident.
Foundation stiffness
TRL Report TRL250 associates long-life pavements with
those that are constructed on a good foundation. HD29
(Highways Agency, 2005) defines a threshold stiffness
(using back-analysis procedures) of 100 MPa or greater for
the foundation of a pavement expected to be associated
with good performance.
Demonstration of the stiffness of a foundation can be
shown using two types of measurements:
Type 1:
Using an FWD, the deflections furthest from the
loading plate (normally 1200 to 1800 mm depending
on the pavement construction) are considered to be
controlled by the properties of the foundation.
Therefore, low values of these deflections will be
attributed to a strong foundation.
It is possible to use the Surface Modulus concept
(FEHRL, 1996) to produce modulus or stiffness values
directly from each of the deflections measured at each
geophone location. The surface modulus values calculated
at each geophone relate to the stiffness in the pavement at
different equivalent depths. Moving further from the load
plate indicates a stiffness deeper in the pavement
structure. In order to demonstrate adequate foundation
stiffness, the surface modulus at all equivalent depths (i.e.
all geophone locations) should exceed 100 MPa.
Back-analysis procedures can also be used to
estimate the stiffness of the foundation. HD29
(Highways Agency, 2005) describes these in detail.
Type 2:
Using a non-destructive, lightweight, portable
deflection testing equipment, measurements can be
made directly on the top of the foundation provided
that the foundation is exposed by opening a trial pit or
by cutting a large core hole without disturbing the
foundation material.
However, there is no universally accepted measuring
device suitable for use in a small excavation. The
process of excavation, either by pneumatic drill or core
cutting bit, is likely to disturb the material directly
underneath which could affect the results. This is not an
attractive method due to the time required to make the
excavations and the fact that the necessary large
intrusion into the structure of the pavement will require
some form of reinstatement treatment.
Asphalt thickness
Asphalt thickness is a key determinant of pavement
performance; this is emphasised by the fact that the
pavement design method (Highways Agency, 2005) is
primarily concerned with the appropriate selection of
asphalt thickness for a given material choice. Furthermore,
many of the observations about the performance of a
pavement that may behave as a long-life pavement were
related to the total thickness of the asphalt layers.
The thickness of an asphalt layer should be one property
that is at least measurable. If construction records were
perfect, it would be a simple property to determine.
Unfortunately it is unlikely that such records will have the
required reliability. Measurement techniques range from
sampling techniques such as coring or pseudo-continuous
measures such as the use of ground penetrating radar.
Guidance on determining layer thickness can be found in
HD29 (Highways Agency, 2005). Checks should be made
to confirm that the thickness derived from either of these
methods is consistent with the approach to determine the
TTBM shown in Figure 3.2.
For the length of pavement under assessment (typically
100 m), the median asphalt thickness should be declared.
4.2 Upgrading
The concept of upgrading is that by performing some
maintenance operation, the state of the pavement is
changed to one which satisfies each and every
characteristic described in Section 4.1; satisfaction of the
characteristics then enables the pavement to be considered
as either a potentially robust pavement or a potentially
long-life pavement. An underlying concept of this method
is that any pavement can be upgraded in this manner.
Pavements are not automatically upgraded within the
current Highways Agency maintenance approach. However,
there are occasions where a method for all types of flexible
pavement is required for determining an appropriate
treatment after which structural deterioration is not expected
for a very long time. For these occasions, the existing
pavement may require upgrading to further increase the
assurance that a robust pavement will not experience
structural damage. These operations could reduce the risk of
structural deterioration to an extent where the pavement can
be considered as a long-life pavement.
Upgrading of a structure can be achieved by an overlay or
the reconstruction of the entire pavement layer. If the scheme
assessment has detected that the stiffness of the foundation is
insufficient, reconstruction is likely to be the most appropriate
route to the creation of a potentially long-life pavement.
Similarly, when the overlay design results in a thickness that
cannot be economically justified or accommodated within the
existing constraints of the road (e.g. headroom restrictions)
reconstruction may be necessary.
The design of this overlay would ideally ensure that the
critical responses in the pavement structure are modified to
be within a certain threshold. However, computed
responses are highly sensitive to the derived structural
properties of the pavement. Therefore, until a conclusive
method can be developed to determine the structural
properties of the pavement, an upgrading methodology
based upon deflection measures is proposed.
11
 As this upgrading method is based upon the existing future. When thick overlay thicknesses are produced by
criteria, the upgrade should be currently determined using the this methodology, these should be considered with regard
deflectograph to provide deflection measures. In the future, to the likely risk and impacts of future structural
this method could be revised in order to accommodate the use deterioration at the site considering the evidence collected
of falling weight deflectometer measurements. against each of the long-life pavement characteristics.
Thick overlay treatments that increase the TTBM beyond
4.2.1 Upgrading method for pavements up to 400 mm 500 mm are worthy of particular careful review.
TTBM using the existing assessment criteria After upgrading, it is unlikely that the resulting pavement
The thickness of an asphalt pavement that has a measured structure will satisfy the existing deflection-thickness
deflection higher than the existing criteria, can be compared criteria. Unless a high modulus material is used, the upgrade
to an asphalt ‘threshold’ thickness of a pavement with the treatment will have the effect of reducing deflection for a
same deflection that just meets the criteria. given additional thickness at a similar rate to the criteria and
The difference between the actual thickness and the therefore will remain above the deflection criterion,
‘threshold’ thickness is an ‘excess’ thickness as illustrated however the pavement should demonstrate more strongly
in Figure 4.2. This ‘excess’ thickness is required to the long-life pavement characteristics. In addition,
compensate for deficiencies in the stiffness of one or more upgrading by the application of an overlay will not change
layers of the pavement so could also be termed a the properties of the foundation; however it could mitigate
‘deficiency’ thickness. In terms of the classification of the effect of deficiencies in this part of the structure. The
long-life and robust pavements, this deficiency thickness upgrading criteria have been developed by the extrapolation
can be used to determine the upgrade treatment. of the existing deflection-thickness criteria for TTBM lower
The proposed upgrading methodology utilises the than 200 mm, Figure 4.3.
existing assessment criteria from which two quantities can Figure 4.4 provides an example of the upgrading
be identified: approach for a pavement with 250 mm TTBM and a
measured standard deflection of 0.32 mm. In this example,
! The ‘excess’ thickness that is the difference between the
an ‘excess’ thickness (HS) of 105 mm was determined and
actual thickness and the thickness that would satisfy the
a thickness of 50 mm (HT) is required to reach the long-life
existing criteria for the same level of deflection, HS. In
terms of robust and long-life pavements, this difference pavement thickness criteria of 300 mm; this results in a
reflects the thickness deficiency to be reinstated. calculated overlay requirement of 155 mm which would
increase the total thickness of the asphalt layer to 405 mm.
! The difference between the current thickness and the A method of designing an upgrade for pavements that
thickness required for either a robust pavement or a do not satisfy the existing deflection criteria has been
long-life pavement, HT. When the existing asphalt layer
formed. A threshold thickness for the long-life design of
thickness exceeds 300 mm for upgrading a pavement,
new pavements using conventional DBM125 materials is
this thickness is zero. This thickness is also zero when
420 mm as shown in Table 2.1. The value of applying a
the existing asphalt layer exceeds 200 mm for upgrading
strengthening overlay to produce pavements that are much
to a robust pavement.
thicker than the current standard designs and are already
The resulting upgrade thickness would be given by the exhibiting the long-life pavement characteristics is
thickness HS + HT. This method is a conservative approach questionable; therefore, it is proposed that this upgrading
to overlay design to increase assurance that the pavement method should be limited to pavements that, after
will not require structural maintenance in the foreseeable upgrading, have a TTBM of less than 500 mm.

0.35

0.30 Excess thickness

Standard deflection (mm)

0.25

0.20
Effective thickness

Actual thickness

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Total thickness of bituminous material (mm)

Figure 4.2 Illustration of ‘excess’ thickness

12
 0.45
0.4

Standard deflection (mm)

0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
TTBM (mm)

Figure 4.3 Extrapolated deflection-thickness criteria for determining ‘excess’ thickness

0.4

0.35 ∆Hs = 105mm ∆HT = 105mm

Standard deflection (mm)

0.3 ∆Hs + ∆HT = 155mm

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
100 200 300 400 500
TTBM (mm)

Figure 4.4 an example of the proposed upgrading methodology

5 Condition assessment of long-life and
robust pavements
The DMRB offers comprehensive advice on the
assessment of all pavements. This advice has been distilled
in this section for the particular case of long-life
pavements; robust pavements can also be covered by the
majority of the advice for long-life pavements in the
DMRB. Extracts of advice that have been reproduced from
the DMRB are indicated by italics together with the
appropriate sub-clause. In addition to the advice given in
the DMRB, advice on the determination of crack depth and
rutting is also offered.
5.1 Condition assessment advice from the Design
Manual for Roads and Bridges
Implicit in the definition of long-life pavements is a
structure of adequate strength manifested by a substantial
thickness of bituminous material and low deflections. The
low deflections are indicative of a generally sound
pavement with good foundation support. The comparison
of information gathered on the test areas should
concentrate on depth of cracking, rutting and other
material deterioration. The findings will give an indication
of the rate of progress of the damage and will assist in
deciding on the timing and extent of remedial treatment
[sub-clause 6.5 of DMRB 7.3.3].
Construction information is a vital component in the
understanding of pavement condition data. If little core
data is available on the road then consideration should be
given to additional occasional coring (e.g. 1 per 100 m)
outside test areas or a Ground Radar survey as described
in HD 29 (DMRB 7.3.2); full details of the procedures for
taking cores, opening test pits and logging the findings are
given in the DMRB [sub-clause 5.8 of DMRB 7.3.3].
Where required, detailed investigations on flexible
pavements should be carried out for 40 m section lengths.
A further detailed visual survey should be carried out at
all investigation sections. The location of surface cracks
should be noted and on flexible pavements rut depths
measured at 10 m intervals in both wheelpaths. Some of
the key areas of distress should be photographed including
a recognisable object or ruler to give scale. The use of
video film may be considered. Drainage features, the
crossfall, gradient and depth of cutting or fill should be
observed in respective test areas and any differences noted
[sub-clause 5.12 of DMRB 7.3.3].
Investigations on sites containing long-life pavements
should concentrate in the first instance on determining
the extent (area and depth) of damage to the surfacing,
which normally consists of a basecourse and wearing

13
course. The damage usually takes the form of polishing,
wheelpath rutting, cracking and crazing [sub-clause 5.13
of DMRB 7.3.3].
If the surface is polished, the skidding resistance is
likely to be below the investigatory level for the site. A
check should be made to establish whether the procedures
set out in HD 28 (DMRB 7.3.1) have been carried out and
whether surface treatment is required for this reason alone
[sub-clause 5.14 of DMRB 7.3.3].
Further tests in areas of distress should follow the
pattern shown in Figure 5.1 (DMRB 7.3.3). Cores should
be taken on the cracks and at crack ends to determine
their depth, direction and manner of propagation. Any
ruts or deformation should also be straddled by cores.
Where extensive rutting is present, it may be necessary to
open a test pit to determine which layers are deformed.
All cores should be of sufficient depth to ensure that the
full depth of cracking is recorded and provide some
evidence of the layers affected by rutting and any loss of
integrity of materials, such as stripping of the binder. If,
as is likely from the pavement categorisation, it is found
that the distress is confined to the surfacing layers no
further site investigations are required [sub-clause 5.15
of DMRB 7.3.3].
However, if it is found that the cracks, rutting or other
deterioration extends downwards into the roadbase, the
more extensive investigations required for determinate-life
pavements with <5 years life will be required [sub-clause
5.16 of DMRB 7.3.3].
5.2 Additional condition assessment advice for cracking
and rutting
5.2.1 Depth of cracking
The appreciation of the depth of surface initiated cracking
is a key factor in the assessment of long-life pavements.
The depth of cracking will control the depth of
maintenance required; therefore accurate determination of
crack depth is a pre-requisite for efficient maintenance.
Furthermore, the monitoring of crack depth is essential in
order to intervene before the depth of cracking jeopardises
the structural layers of the pavement; a fundamental
requirement for long-life pavements.
Ideally, the assessment and monitoring of crack depth
will be carried out using a non-destructive test; however,
the non-destructive assessment of such cracks has
historically been a challenge. Recent research has
indicated that there are some radar-based techniques which
could provide a suitable solution; these techniques are
currently being evaluated on the HA network1. When
validated, these techniques could provide a cheaper and
faster alternative to coring. Until the performance of these
1
A preliminary investigation of a GPR-based non-destructive crack
depth measurement device was undertaken by TRL in 2002; the results
of this investigation were very promising. As a result of these,
controlled trials of the device are being undertaken on the Highways
Agency network. Agents are able to hire the equipment or to
commission specialist survey contractors to survey surface cracks
along with coring; results of the trial are being monitored by TRL.
14
non-destructive tests has been validated, limited coring of
the existing cracks is perhaps the most appropriate means
of determining crack depth currently available.
Coring of every crack that is visible may not be feasible
and, if concentrated in a localised area, may affect the
integrity of the pavement structure. The frequency of
coring should be decided according to the degree of
deterioration and resources available; however, coring
should aim to provide an adequate sample in order to make
a reasonable judgement on the state of the deterioration.
Coring should therefore be directed to the most visible
cracks, the core should be extracted from directly over the
crack and the depth of cracking recorded as the maximum
visible penetration. Where the bottom of the crack is not
clearly visible in the core, such as illustrated in Case B of
Figure 5.1, the recorded depth of cracking should indicate
that this might not be the maximum depth of penetration;
for this type of crack, other locally sampled crack depths
may assist in assessing the maximum depth of penetration.
Recorded
Depth of
Cracking
A B
Figure 5.1 Illustration of cores showing different paths of
crack propagation
5.2.2 Rutting
Rutting in long-life pavements is expected to occur in the
surface layers only and is often referred to as non-
structural rutting. Non-structural rutting may be indicated
on the surface by the occurrence of shoulders beside the
wheel path as shown in Figure 5.2; however, the lack of
shoulders does not imply that the rutting is structural.
These shoulders occur due to a viscous, lateral
displacement of material under the action of the wheel
load. Where shoulders are not detectable on the pavement
surface, a test pit may need to be opened in order to view
where the deformation has occurred.
Although not affecting the structural layers of the
pavement, non-structural rutting may develop quickly in
extreme conditions such as a prolonged period of high
temperatures and sunshine. Non-structural rutting that is
not corrected in a timely fashion may progress to a stage
that begins to affect the structural layers.
Surface rutting can be detected by a detailed visual survey
or a machine based approach. The machinebased approach
will provide a more detailed view of the rutting that is
 Shoulders
Surface course
Binder course
Base
Figure 5.2 Illustration of the cross-section of a typical non-structural rut
evident along the length of the pavement; ruts that are
measured during a visual condition survey will be only a
small sample that records the peak deformation at specific
intervals. Machinebased methods can more easily provide
detailed transverse profiles than are possible with manual
methods, enabling the shape of the rut profile to be assessed.
The shape of the rutting profile could be important in the
detection of non-structural rutting, Figure 5.2.
Where significant deformation of the surface has
occurred, confirmation of non-structural rutting should be
made by the excavation of a trial pit with clear cut faces;
similar information can be collected by taking several
cores distributed in a straight line transversely across the
lane. Even though the surface profile may be indicating the
presence of deformation within the surfacing, visual
evidence that the structural layers are free from
deformation should be sought.
Significant structural deformation may be detected by
the use of ground penetrating radar operated transversely
cross the traffic lane.
6 Maintenance techniques for long-life
or robust pavements
Long-life or robust flexible pavements are particular types
of pavement; the maintenance of these types of pavement
is implicitly covered by the existing maintenance advice
contained in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges.
This section highlights the range of treatments that could
be considered for the particular case of either long-life or
robust flexible pavements as well as proposing two novel
alternative treatments.
The maintenance treatments for long-life roads should,
by definition, consist of non-structural treatments only.
Maintenance of long-life roads will be performed to either
restore the surface characteristics of the pavement or to
prevent deterioration in the surfacing layers affecting the
structural layers.
6.1 Existing treatments covered in the design manual
for roads and bridges
HD31 (Highways Agency, 2005) classifies maintenance
treatments into one of three classes:
! Surface treatments.
! Minor maintenance.
! Major maintenance.
Deformation confined to
the surfacing layers
Surface treatments are applicable to all types of pavement
including long-life or robust pavements; therefore no special
attention will be given to these treatments in this document.
HD31 (Highways Agency, 2005) also details a range of
treatments for the surfacing layer including: crack sealing,
surface dressing, thin surfacing and retexturing; detailed
advice on the use of these treatments is given in HD37
(Highways Agency, 2005).
Treatments grouped under ‘Minor Maintenance’ include
Carriageway Patching and Trench Reinstatement. Trench
reinstatement is not a suitable maintenance treatment for
long-life pavements as this treatment is often carried out
after access has been gained to underground services; the
structural layers of a long-life or robust pavement should
not need replacing, therefore it is unwise to place
underground services beneath such a pavement.
Carriageway patching is a suitable treatment provided that
the patch extends only to the depth of the surfacing layers.
The major maintenance treatments for long-life
pavements that are included in the Design Manual for
Roads and Bridges are essentially restricted to overlay,
inlay and resurfacing operations. This guidance
concentrates on those minor and major maintenance
treatments that are applicable to long-life pavements.
Figure 6.1 illustrates the different options for major
maintenance treatments for long-life or robust pavements
in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. The striped
areas indicate new or replacement layers where a treatment
has been performed.
Overlays
An overlay is a traditional treatment that is generally
applied for the purposes of increasing the structural
capacity of a pavement (except for thin overlay) as well as
restoring the functional characteristics of the pavement
such as surface profile. However, in the context of long-
life or robust pavements, its inclusion into this guidance is
justified on the basis of the change in level that it
produces. It is envisaged that an overlay of a long-life
flexible pavement will be performed to maintain the
surface level in the following situations:
! When adjacent pavement sections are overlaid to increase
the structural capacity of the adjacent pavement and/or to
upgrade the adjacent pavement to long-life status.
! When a road is widened and the choice of pavement
design for the new construction necessitates an increase
in overall surface level.
15

Existing Overlay Thin overlay
Pavement
Figure 6.1 Types of treatment permitted for long-life pavements
There are instances when the application of an overlay is
not feasible. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges
provides explicit advice on the feasibility of overlays.
Where one lane of a dual carriageway requires
treatment but other lanes still have substantial remaining
life, the additional cost of a structurally unnecessary
overlay over satisfactory lanes will have to be considered.
It may be cheaper to fully or partially reconstruct the
nearside lane [sub-clause 7.12 of DMRB 7.3.3].
A thin overlay treatment is a possible treatment for long-
life and robust pavements. It is unlikely that this type of
treatment is performed for structural reasons. It is most
likely to be used as an economical method for restoring the
functional characteristics of the pavements where the
existing surfacing is intact and the additional thickness of
the thin overlay can be accommodated within the existing
geometry of the road.
Resurfacing
Resurfacing is effectively an inlay treatment where the
existing surface course only is replaced to a similar
thickness. Resurfacing is not undertaken for structural
improvement and is performed to renew the functions of
the surfacing whilst maintaining the existing level of the
pavement. It is preferred to a thin overlay treatment in
situations where there are headroom restrictions.
Timely surface treatment can be effective in halting
deterioration before serious damage to the remaining
structure takes place. If it is timed to coincide with a need
for improvement to surface texture or skidding resistance,
then it is economically even more attractive [sub-clause
7.15 of DMRB 7.3.3]
Inlay
Inlay treatments are not explicitly described in the DMRB;
however, they are covered by the advice in the DMRB as it
can be seen as a form of overlay after the existing surfacing
of the pavement has been removed. An inlay treatment
16
New Surface Materials
Existing Surface Materials
Resurfacing Inlay Patch
involves the removal of the surface course and a proportion
of the binder course and possibly the base materials.
Replacement asphalt layers are then laid on to the remaining
pavement structure to restore the original thickness.
It is envisaged that an inlay of a long-life or robust
flexible pavement will be performed to prevent any
deterioration that has been identified in the binder course
(and possibly in the uppermost part of the base) from
affecting the structural layers of the pavement.
Patching
Patching treatments are applied to long-life and robust
pavements to replace surfacing materials that have aged
and have begun to break up and form crazed areas. The
entire depth of defective material should be removed in the
patch; therefore the treatment could involve either the
replacement of the surface course only or both the surface
course and binder course layers
Patching may be employed as a holding treatment until a
longer length of maintenance treatment can be justified;
although site specific economic analysis will dictate the
minimum treatment length for inlay, resurfacing and thin
overlay treatments.
6.2 Proposed alternative treatments
In addition to the advice contained in the DMRB, two other
major treatments for use on long-life flexible pavements
have been selected for inclusion in this guidance: Trench
Inlay and Partial Depth Inlay. Whereas there is a
considerable body of information on conventional
maintenance treatments, it has not been possible to
demonstrate the performance of these alternative treatments
in a limited fashion at the time of the production of this
guidance. The trials that have been undertaken to
demonstrate the performance of these treatments are briefly
described in Appendix A. The application of these
treatments should be considered by balancing the risks of
early failure with the potential benefits.
 Trench Inlay in Wheel-Path
Surface Course
Binder Course
Base
Sub-base
Lane Width
Figure 6.2 Illustration of trench inlay treatment
Trench inlay
A trench inlay is performed to correct deterioration that is
confined to the wheel-paths and could be chosen in
preference to a conventional inlay treatment.
The benefit of a trench inlay over a conventional inlay is
that only material in the vicinity of the observed
deterioration is replaced, relatively untrafficked parts of
the existing surfacing remain. A trench inlay has obvious
economic and sustainability advantages in terms of
materials consumption; it could potentially have
advantages in terms of a more rapid maintenance operation
with consequently less disruption to traffic, but these
advantages have yet to be confirmed in a full-scale trial.
However there are two operational issues that should be
considered before commencing such a treatment:
! Steps should be made to ensure that the new material
makes an excellent bond with the existing material
surrounding the trench.
Surface Course
Binder Course
Base
Sub-base
Existing Cracked Pavement Inlay
Figure 6.3 Illustration of partial depth inlay treatment
! Care should be taken, during compaction of the new
material, so that the satisfactory compaction of all the
new material is achieved, in particular that in the lower
corners of the trench. In a pilot-scale trial of these
techniques, Sanders and Nunn (2004) achieved good
compaction throughout the trench.
Partial depth inlay
Traditional full-depth inlay treatments are designed to
remove and replace the full-depth of cracked material;
however, a partial depth inlay treatment does not necessarily
require the removal of the existing pavement materials to
the maximum depth at which cracking has occurred.
Figure 6.3 illustrates that there are potential savings in terms
of the amount of material required to carry out this treatment
over a conventional inlay treatment.
For long-life and robust pavements, cracking evident at
the surface of the pavement originates from the surface
New Surface Materials
Existing Surface Materials
Partial Depth Inlay
17
and propagates downwards. The application of a partial
depth inlay will restore a crack-free surface and seal the
remaining crack from water and air ingress. The crack
would then be sealed in a relatively inert part of the
pavement (neither directly in contact with the traffic and
the environment nor in a location where high tensile
stresses are expected) thus arresting the growth of the
crack. Furthermore, it is likely that the high temperature of
the inlay material at the time of construction will have a
beneficial effect on the remaining cracks and may provide
some form of healing. It is advised that this treatment is
not performed if the surface crack penetrates a significant
proportion of the total thickness of the asphalt layer, i.e.
greater than 40%.
There is a small risk that this treatment will not arrest
the progression of the incumbent crack; regular monitoring
of the pavement could reduce such a risk. For robust
pavements, the risk is much higher because the thickness
of the asphalt can be less than required for long-life
pavements; partial depth inlay is not recommended for
robust pavements with less than 300 mm asphalt thickness.
When designing an inlay treatment, consideration must
be given to the quality of the assessment and types of
cracking observed. Crack depth may vary widely along the
pavement and a decision will be required as to whether to
design the treatment for the deepest crack or for a more
representative depth of cracking along the whole site. Such
a decision will need to consider the frequency of crack
depths and the risk that future maintenance could arise
from a failure to treat the deterioration adequately.
6.3 Treatment selection for long-life and robust
pavements
Long-life and robust pavements should not require
structural maintenance treatments; therefore the
maintenance operations that can be performed on a long-
life pavement are confined to those treatments that remedy
the functional aspects of the pavement. Such treatments
will restore the characteristics of the surfacing layers and
include thin overlay, inlay, resurfacing.
Table 6.1 provides advice on which treatments are likely
to be used when distress in the pavement reaches some level
when maintenance is required. An ‘✖’ indicates that this
type of treatment is unlikely to be performed in order to
remedy that single type of defect; whereas a ‘✔’ indicates
that this type of treatment could be used to remedy a single
type of defect. The overall selection of treatments should
aim to remedy each of the significant defects.
The selection of the appropriate treatment is a
complicated operation that is performed considering a
number of factors including:
! the degree and distribution of distress;
! the levels of traffic at the site;
! the planned future maintenance;
! the whole life costs of the treatment;
! the treatments proposed for adjacent parts of the
pavement.
18
Table 6.1 Treatments for long-life pavement appropriate
to types of defect
Defect Thin overlay Resurfacing1 Inlay2
Low friction ✔ ✔ ✖
Poor texture ✔ ✔ ✖
Profile ✔ ✔ ✔
Rutting ✔ ✔ ✔
Transverse cracking ✖ ✔ ✔
Longitudinal cracking ✖ ✔ ✔
Crazing ✖ ✔ ✔
1
Thin overlay may be a more economic option than resurfacing where
the existing surface course of the pavement is free from cracking and
significant deformation and where there are no constraints imposed
by headroom and other street furniture.
2
Consider patching if less than 10 m requires treatment.
7 Potential benefits of long-life and
robust pavements
The information contained in this guidance extends the
advice contained on long-life pavements within the DMRB
and extends the concept of long-life pavements to a class
of pavements called ‘robust’ pavements; it therefore
creates additional benefits and associated risks.
Adoption of the long-life pavement concept
The whole life cost benefits of long-life pavements were
assessed in TRL Report TRL250. The chief benefits
identified were the lower initial construction costs for
heavily trafficked situations. User costs were also reduced,
particularly if maintenance operations could be performed
at night. The requirement to complete a maintenance
treatment at night can preclude the use of an overlay,
therefore long-life pavement treatments that require only
inlay or resurfacing can take advantage of these savings.
Environmental benefits arise from the use of long-life and
robust pavements and come from a number of different
sources. For heavily trafficked situations, they reduce the
consumption of non-renewable resources during
construction and maintenance operations such as bitumen
and virgin aggregate. In addition the reduced user costs,
through reduced congestion as a result of minor or night-
time maintenance, will assist in the control of air pollution
from road vehicles; congestion also reduces fuel efficiency.
Introduction of the robust pavement concept
The concept of a robust pavement has been introduced in
this guidance. These pavements offer similar benefits to
long-life pavement although they have a higher risk of
structural deterioration. Such pavements will enable many
of the advantages of long-life pavements to be adopted
more widely than is currently possible. The network level
assessment criteria is designed for use on the UK trunk
road network, the concept of a robust pavement could, for
the first time, bring about a long-life approach to the
maintenance of a significant proportion of the principal
and secondary road network.
Enhanced assessment techniques
The proposed enhancements to the assessment criteria
provide methods of increasing the confidence of the
classification as potentially robust, long-life or otherwise.
Indeed many of these methods are routinely operated.
However, particular methods for the investigation of the
behaviour of the pavement with respect to the
characteristics expected of a long-life pavement allow for
more confidence in the assessment and for the assessment
to be applied to a wider range of pavements.
Enhanced upgrading techniques
The existing upgrading and assessment techniques provide an
adequate first indicator of the likely future structural
maintenance requirements for pavements provided that other
adequate supporting information can be collected. This
method offers a simple means of upgrading the pavement
provided that the deflections in the pavement are suitably low.
An enhancement of this technique has been proposed for
pavements whose deflections are not suitably low, but
whose behaviour reflects the characteristics of long-life
and robust pavements, and where there is a requirement to
reduce the risk that the pavement will require structural
maintenance in the foreseeable future.
These changes permit the long-life pavement maintenance
approach to be applied to much wider proportion of the trunk
road network, if economically desirable. Although the current
method can be applied to a significant proportion of the trunk
road network, there will be a small but significant proportion
of the trunk road network that could benefit from the
increased flexibility of upgrading.
Additional maintenance options
Two additional maintenance options have been presented
for long-life pavements: trench inlay and partial depth
inlay. Both options are considered to be alternatives to a
conventional inlay treatment and are designed to minimise
the amount of material that is removed and placed during
maintenance.
The successful implementation of either of these treatments
will bring about economic and environmental benefits. The
economic benefits of such treatments will be tempered by the
additional operations that are required. This is particularly an
issue for the trench inlay, where the success of the system will
be governed by the quality of the preparation of the trench
and the careful compaction of replacement asphalt. The
environmental benefits of these two systems can be measured
by the reduction of material that is both taken away from and
bought to site: not only on the reduction in fuel required to
carry out these operations but if neither process is linked to
recycling, the amount of material that is extracted from finite
resources and taken to land-fill.
8 Summary
A summary of the research presented in this report is
provided:
! This research has extended the applicability of the long-
life pavement concept to a wider range of pavements
and thus brings the financial and environmental benefits
to a larger proportion of the network.
! The enhanced methods of assessment proposed builds
upon the existing techniques described in the current
version of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges
through the extended use of deflectograph and falling
weight deflectometer measurements.
! This research has introduced the concept of robust
pavements which enable the benefits of a long-life
pavement and its associated simplified maintenance
treatments to be obtained if the associated added risk of
incorrect identification is accepted.
! Four conventional major maintenance treatments have
been highlighted for use on long-life and robust
pavements: thin overlay, inlay, resurfacing and
patching. Overlay treatment is also included but only for
instances where a change in surface level is required.
! Novel maintenance treatments are also included in this
guidance that could lead to more efficient maintenance
of robust and long-life pavements. The potential
performance of the trench inlay treatments has been
demonstrated through experience on the local authority
roads and pilot-scale testing. A long-term, full-scale trial
of a partial depth inlay treatment has been constructed
for future monitoring.
9 Acknowledgements
The research was jointly sponsored by the Highways
Agency, the Quarry Products Association and the Refined
Bitumen Association. The work described in this report
was carried out in the Infrastructure Division of TRL
Limited. The author is grateful to Mr B Ferne who carried
out the quality review and auditing of this report.
10 References
British Standards Institution (1993). Method for
determination of the indirect tensile stiffness modulus of
bituminous mixtures. BS DD 213. London: British
Standards Institution.
Dommelen A van (2002). The use of FWD in DBM
contracts. 2nd European FWD User’s Group Meeting,
Cascais, Portugal.
Highways Agency (2005). Design Manual for Roads and
Bridges. Highways Agency, The Scottish Office
Development Department, The Welsh Office, The
Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland.
London: The Stationery Office.
HD 25/94: Foundations (DMRB 7.2.2)
HD 26/01: Pavement Design (DMRB 7.2.3)
HD 29/94: Structural Assessment Methods (DMRB 7.3.2)
HD 30/99: Maintenance Assessment Procedure
(DMRB 7.3.3)
19
HD 31/94: Maintenance of Bituminous Roads
(DMRB 7.4.1)
HD 37/99: Bituminous Surfacing Treatments and
Techniques (DMRB 7.5.2)

Forum of European National Highway Research

Laboratories (FEHRL) (2004). Making best use of long-
life pavements in Europe: A guide to the use of long-life
fully-flexible pavements. FEHRL Technical Report 2004/1.
Brussels: Forum of European National Highway Research
Laboratories.

Forum of European National Highway Research

Laboratories (FEHRL) (1996). Harmonisation of the use
of the falling weight deflectometer on pavements, Part 1:
Harmonisation of FWD measurements and data
processing for flexible road pavement evaluation. FEHRL
Report No. 1996/1. Brussels: Forum of European National
Highway Research Laboratories.

Kendall M G (1938). A new measure of rank correlation.

Biometrika, 30, p. 81-93.

Nunn M E, Brown A, Weston D and Nicholls J C (1997).

Design of long-life flexible pavements for heavy traffic.
TRL Report TRL250. Wokingham: TRL Limited.

Nunn M E and Ferne B W (1997). Design and

assessment of long-life flexible pavements. Transportation
Research Circular. Washington DC: Transportation
Research Board. 2001-12 503, pp. 3949.

Sanders P and Nunn M E (2004). Investigation into the

properties of a 20 mm EME binder course for use on
heavily trafficked roads. Project Report. Wokingham: TRL
Limited. (Unpublished project report available on direct
personal application only)

20
Appendix A: Supporting case studies

A.1 Examples of the use of the enhanced assessment
and upgrading approach
Two sites from the Highways Agency’s validation
monitoring programme (Highways Agency, 2005) were
selected. These sites are: the M25 at Brentwood and the
A414 at Cole Green. The sites were chosen to illustrate the
advantages of the enhanced assessment and upgrading
techniques across a range of conditions. An illustration of
how the enhanced upgrade technique could be used at
Brentwood is given, although it is accepted that such an
upgrade treatment will only be required in a particular
scenario.
A.1.1 M25 Brentwood
The M25 at Brentwood opened in 1982 and is a heavily
trafficked site that has been monitored since 1995. It is an
example of a pavement with deflections that are higher than
the existing criteria but is behaving as a long-life pavement.
The 85th percentile of the deflectograph measurements
places it in the DLP category according to the conventional
assessment criteria; the average of the 85th percentile values
over the survey years is shown in Figure A1.
Under the enhanced assessment advice, the characteristics
of the pavement have been compared to the characteristics
of a long-life pavement.
Evidence of resistance to damage by traffic:
Figure A2 shows the evolution with time of the average
central deflection value from the FWD; these
measurements have been corrected for temperature.
Although this is a heavily trafficked site, there was no
significant trend detected in the evolution of deflection
(according to the method shown in Appendix B)
suggesting that there is no significant evidence of damage
by traffic. In addition, the maintenance history of this site
was consulted; this site had received no structural
maintenance and it had carried almost all of the original
design life by 1998; the pavement received an inlay
treatment in 1996. Since 1996, this site has been regularly
monitored, no structural maintenance has been required
and the deflection behaviour has remained stable.
Asphalt soundness:
During 1998, cores were extracted from the pavement; no
evidence of poor material was recorded.
Foundation stiffness: Using the recorded FWD
deflections at the outer geophones in each survey, the
minimum surface modulus at the equivalent depth of the
foundation was estimated to be 119 MPa, therefore
satisfactory support from the foundation is indicated.

0.35
DLP
0.3
Brentwood
Standard Deflection (mm)

0.25

0.2
ULLP

0.15

0.1
LLP
0.05

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Thickness (mm)

Figure A.1 The 85th percentile of deflectograph results at Brentwood compared to the criteria given in Figure 3.2

300
FWD Central Deflection (µm)

200

100

0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Survey Year

Figure A.2 Evolution of deflection at the M25 Brentwood

21
Asphalt thickness: (according to the method shown in Appendix B)
The cores extracted during 1998 confirmed that the asphalt suggesting that there is no significant evidence of damage
layer was approximately 310 mm thick. by traffic.
The pavement at this site appears to satisfy each of the
characteristics associated with long-life pavements; Asphalt soundness:
therefore this indicates that this pavement could be During 1998, cores were extracted from the pavement; no
considered as a potentially long-life or in the new evidence of poor material was recorded.
terminology, a robust pavement.

A.1.2 A414 Cole Green
The A414 at Cole Green is a site that has been monitored
for many years. It is an example of a pavement with low
deflections; the 85th percentile of the deflectograph
readings places it in the LLP category according to the
conventional assessment criteria, the average value over
the survey years is shown in Figure A3.
Under the enhanced assessment advice, the characteristics
of the pavement have been compared to the characteristics
of a long-life pavement.
Evidence of resistance to damage by traffic:
Figure A4 shows the evolution with time of the average
central deflection value from the FWD; these
measurements have been corrected for temperature. The
evolution of deflection at this site exhibits a negligible
increase and these deflections are low. There was no
significant trend detected in the evolution of deflection
Foundation stiffness:
Using the recorded FWD deflections at the outer
geophones in each survey, the minimum surface modulus
at the equivalent depth of the foundation was estimated to
be 175 MPa, therefore satisfactory support from the
foundation is indicated.
Asphalt thickness:
The cores extracted during 1998 confirmed that the asphalt
layer was approximately 305 mm thick.
The pavement at this site appears to satisfy each of the
characteristics associated with long-life pavements, this
confirms the initial classification of the pavement as a LLP
according to the deflection-thickness criteria.
A.1.3 A228 Snodland By-pass
The Snodland by-pass was constructed in the early eighties
and is of fully-flexible construction. In 2001 a structural

0.35
DLP
0.3
Standard Deflection (mm)

0.25

0.2
ULLP

0.15 Cole Green

0.1
LLP
0.05

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Thickness (mm)

Figure A.3 The 85th percentile of deflectograph results at Cole Green compared to the criteria given in Figure 3.1

300
FWD Central Deflection (µm)

200

100

0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Survey Year

Figure A.4 Evolution of deflection at the A414 at Cole Green

22
strengthening treatment was carried out by Kent County
Council due to increasing traffic levels caused by local
increases in traffic on the M2 and M20 motorways and the
presence of a longitudinal cracking and ruts in the nearside
wheel-path. Kent County Council made the survey data
available to the research in order to construct the following
case study.
Evidence of resistance to damage by traffic:
Figure A4 shows the 85th percentile of deflectograph
readings on the Northbound and Southbound carriageways.
Figure A5 shows the criteria for a potentially ULLP
according to Figure 3.2 for the TTBM determined on the
northbound and southbound carriageways. The 85th
percentile values have been plotted for both carriageways
with the distance along road, Figure A5.
On the northbound carriageway, the deflection
measurements are low, many below the ULLP criteria,
suggesting that the pavement is structurally adequate. On
the southbound carriageway, the deflections are higher and
in some locations greater than the ULLP criteria.
Asphalt soundness:
Prior to commencing the maintenance treatment a large
number of cores were extracted. The core records do not
show any significant deterioration although it was
suspected that the coring was not directed to the
investigation of the observed visual deterioration.
Foundation stiffness:
Suitable records on the condition of the foundation were
unavailable.
Asphalt thickness:
The cores extracted confirmed that the asphalt layer was
approximately 245 mm thick on the northbound carriageway
and 240 mm thick on the southbound carriageway.
In order to produce a potentially long-life pavement, the
deflection measurements on the northbound carriageway
suggest that the application of just 55 mm overlay would
be sufficient at all sections; according to the current
criteria, as shown in Figure 3.2 such an upgrade treatment
would not be possible at all locations on the southbound
carriageway. Otherwise, provided that the visual
deterioration was initiated at the surface and the
appropriate maintenance treatment carried out for this, it is
likely that this pavement could have been operated as a
robust pavement without increasing the overall pavement
thickness by overlay. The benefits of this approach
considering the costs associated with additional monitoring
and risk would need to be confirmed.
A.1.4 Example of the use of the proposed upgrading
procedures
The following example is a simulated use of the proposed
upgrading procedures for the assessment example given
for the M25 Brentwood. The site is not classed as a long-
life pavement according to the current criteria. There may
be a desire to take action to ensure that this pavement will
not receive structural maintenance for the foreseeable
future; therefore the enhanced assessment and upgrading
advice will provide further information and the possibility
of designing an appropriate upgrade treatment. The
assessment provided in section A.1.1 confirmed that this
pavement was robust according to the proposed criteria for
long-life pavements and therefore the additional upgrading
approach could be used.
The pavement cannot be considered as an upgradeable
to long-life pavement as it does not satisfy the existing
assessment criteria as shown in Figure 3.1 whereas the
enhanced upgrade methodology is suitable for application
to this pavement.
Using the enhanced upgrading methodology, the overlay
design procedure is as follows:

350
Northbound Carriageway Southbound Carriageway

300
Maximum ULLP Criteria
250
Deflection (µm)

200

150

100

50

0
50

150

250

350

450

550

650

750

850

950

1050

1150

1250

500

600

700

800

900

Chainage (m)

Figure A.5 85th percentiles of deflectograph measurements at Snodland

23
 0.5

Upgraded thickness 410mm

0.45
0.4

Standard deflection (mm)

0.35
100mm
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
TTBM (mm)

Figure A.6 Example upgrade using the data from Brentwood (Figure A.1)

! TTBM of existing pavement [A]
! Long-Life Pavement thickness criterion
! TTBM > 300 mm ∴HT = 0 mm
! Estimated TTBM for a pavement satisfying the extrapolated
criteria with a deflection of 285 µm [B]
! HS = [A] – [B] = 310 mm – 210 mm
! Overlay design estimate HS + HT [C]
! TTBM of upgraded structure: [A] + [C]
The proposed upgrading method resulted in a substantial
increase in thickness because the deflection measurements
on the existing pavement were well outside the existing
criteria for potentially long-life pavements. Before the
upgrading treatment is applied, an appraisal of the design
should be made in comparison with the other options for
upgrading (i.e. full reconstruction of the pavement).
A.2 Novel maintenance techniques for long-life
pavements
A.2.1 Trench inlay
TRL have undertaken a pilot-scale trial of the trench inlay
system (Section 6.2) using the TRL Pavement Test Facility
within this programme of work. The experiment was formed
within a pavement comprising high-modulus material and
trafficked at a pavement temperature of 40°C; the results of
this trial were reported by Sanders and Nunn (2004).
Trench inlay treatments have also been frequently
applied on local authority roads. Sites where this type of
treatment has been used were visited and the condition of
the pavement assessed using a digital video survey; in total
28km of treatment were surveyed at 15 sites. The study
found that the performance of the treatment at sites where
a detailed structural assessment had been carried out was
far superior to the other sites where only deflectograph or
visual condition surveys had been undertaken. There were
also instances of problems with the condition of the
treatment that were attributable to poor compaction.
Thickness The study highlights the need for following the existing
310 mm structural assessment procedures in order to enable
300 mm appropriate trench inlay treatment to be designed and
0 mm placed. In several cases, problems have arisen due to poor
workmanship and a failure to address adequately the
original cause of deterioration.
210 mm
100 mm
A.2.2 Partial depth crack treatment
100 mm In May 2003, a partial depth crack treatment (as illustrated
410 mm in Figure 6.3) was undertaken on a bituminous pavement
exhibiting surface cracking located on a major trunk road.
The cracks in the existing structure originated at the
surface and penetrated into the structure to a maximum
recorded depth of 170 mm. For maintenance an 80 mm
depth was inlaid with HDM and a further 30 mm Thin
Surfacing System added.
The performance of this treatment could not be judged
within the time-scale of this project and longer term
monitoring of the pavement condition will be required.
A.3 References
Highways Agency (2005). Validation monitoring of
design and assessment methods. Highways Agency
Research Compendium. Retrieved: 2005, from www.ha-
research.co.uk.
Sanders P and Nunn M E (2004). Investigation into the
properties of a 20 mm EME binder course for use on
heavily trafficked roads. Project Report. Wokingham: TRL
Limited. (Unpublished project report available on direct
personal application only)

24
Appendix B: A statistical method for the objective assessment of trends

It is possible to observe a trend in random data using linear

regression techniques. Regression analysis will almost
always result in positive or negative gradient; therefore it
is impossible for this to be used as a tool for detecting no
trend in the data.
The Mann-Kendall test assumes that where no
significant trend exists, random error will produce positive
and negative relationships between all the points. The
random error is assumed to be normally distributed
resulting in a normal distribution of relationships. Through
the assignment of positive relationships of 1, and negative
relationship of –1, an overall view on the direction of these
relationships can be made through the summation of
assigned values.
The statistical test of these relationships is performed as
follows:
The variance, s2, is given as:

n ( n − 1)( 2n + 5)
S2 =
18
For each set of two points {F(i);(Fj)} in the set, the
relationship (R) is assigned:

⎧ −1 : F (i ) < F ( j )
⎪
Ri, j ⎨0 : F (i ) = F ( j ), i < j
⎪1 : F (i ) < F ( j )
⎩

The summation of relationships (C) is:

n −1 n −1
C− ∑ ∑ Ri, j
i =1 j =1

The test statistic (T) is computed as:

⎧C − 1
⎪ 5 :C > 0
⎪
T = ⎨ 0 :C −0
⎪C + 1
⎪ :C < 0
⎩ 5

The test statistic is compared to a critical value from

tables, Zα, (where a is the test level) and the following
conclusions can be stated:
T> Zα : There is a significant increasing trend
T< -Zα : There is a significant decreasing trend
|T|< Zα : There is no trend

25
 Abstract
This report has been produced by TRL as a result of collaboration between the Quarry Products Association,
Refined Bitumen Association and Highways Agency. The report provides guidance on the construction, assessment
and maintenance of pavements that are not expected to experience structural deterioration, commonly referred to as
long-life pavements. In order to apply the long-life pavement concept to a wider range of pavements, the concept of
robust pavements has been introduced. Robust pavements are expected to deteriorate in a similar fashion and
demonstrate similar characteristics to long-life pavements, with the exception that they can be thinner and carry a
higher risk of structural deterioration than long-life pavements. This additional risk can be mitigated by the
appropriate adjustment of maintenance assessment strategies.
Enhanced advice for the assessment and upgrading of robust and long-life pavements is proposed. This advice
complements the existing Highways Agency practices and it extends the applicability of the concept beyond the
trunk road network.
Maintenance treatments that are suitable for robust and long-life pavements are listed and novel treatments are
presented that offer the opportunity to maintain long-life pavements in a more efficient and sustainable manner.
This guidance will enable more accurate future budgeting of maintenance funds and assist highway engineers in the
maintenance decision process.

Related publications
TRL638 A model set of asphalt sustainability indicators by A R Parry. 2005 (price £30, code EX)
TRL636 The application of Enrobé à Module Élevé in flexible pavements by P J Sanders and M Nunn.
2005 (price £40, Code HX)
TRL456 Development of a performance-based surfacing specification for high performance asphalt pavements
by D J Weston, M E Nunn, A J Brown and D Lawrence. 2001 (price £50, code L)
TRL250 Design of long-life flexible pavements for heavy traffic by M E Nunn, A Brown, D Weston and
J C Nicholls. 1997 (price £50, code L)
TRL231 Road trials of high modulus base (HMB) by M E Nunn and T M Smith. 1997 (price £25, code E)
PR66 Evaluation of Enrobe a Module Eleve (EME: a French high modulus roadbase material by M E Nunn
and T M Smith. 1994 (price £25, code E)
RR189 Structural investigation of the road for the design of strengthening by R T N Goddard.
1990 (price £20, code B)
LR1132 Design of bituminous pavements by W D Powell, H C Mayhew, J F Potter and M E Nunn.
1984 (price £20, code A)
CT119.1 Bituminous binders and mix design update (2001-2003) Current Topics in Transport: selected abstracts
from TRL Library’s database (price £20)
CT40.4 Bituminous road design and construction update (2003-2004) Current Topics in Transport: selected
abstracts from TRL Library’s database (price £20)
Prices current at June 2005

For further details of these and all other TRL publications, telephone Publication Sales on 01344 770783, email:
publications@trl.co.uk, or visit TRL on the Internet at www.trl.co.uk.

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